Conservative Medias Fickle Affections

Posted on Feb 15, 2008

It wasn’t so long ago that Matt Drudge and Rupert Murdoch’s minions cooed over Hillary Clinton’s centrism, but in the end the self-styled titans of right-wing media couldn’t resist bashing her, much to their readers’ delight. Politico chronicles the rise and fall of conservatives’ brief love affair with Hillary Clinton.

Politico:

Over the course of her six years as a New York senator and in the early days of her presidential campaign, Hillary Rodham Clinton cultivated an unlikely set of allies: the conservative media.

From Rupert Murdoch to David Brooks to Matt Drudge, her campaign courted them with every instrument at its disposal, including targeted leaks and Bill Clinton’s legendary personal charm.

But when Sen. Clinton’s campaign started to stumble, those hard-won friends were the first to go. Murdoch’s pet tabloid, the New York Post, repudiated her and endorsed Sen. Barack Obama. The Drudge Report rode her decline as gleefully as it watched her rise. And the pundit class moved from its grudging respect for Clinton into an infatuation with Obama.